


From the Sea

by prosodiical



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 09:21:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10783971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prosodiical/pseuds/prosodiical
Summary: In another world, Ardyn taking him out to dinner like this might feasibly be called a date.





	From the Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shadow_lover](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadow_lover/gifts).



Altissia is beautiful at night.

The lights from the city reflect off the canals, the gondolas' lamps casting a golden shimmer across the sea, and Noctis takes a moment there, arms on the railing outside the Leville, to breathe in the salt in the air. It's nothing like the towns outside Insomnia, with their endless disquiet and fear; even the safe haven of Lestallum's lights doesn't match Altissia's breezy air. Noctis knows even here there are daemons - there are a few posters for hunters plastered about - but people seem mostly unconcerned with the threat they pose; inconsequential, here, to their worries of life.

And it's a break, for all that it feels like the calm before the storm. Noctis knows the Hydraen won't be easy, knows that if he manages to gain its favour, he's still stuck with what comes next. Niflheim looms, his revenge and destiny miles away and yet far, far too close.

A voice comes from behind him, eminently familiar. "Ah, if it isn't His Highness himself."

Noctis turns his head, trying not to look too startled. Ardyn is standing only a few feet away, his head tilted curious as a bird's, his expression unreadable until an odd smile crosses his face. "Ardyn," Noctis says, "what are you doing here?"

"What is anyone doing here?" Ardyn says, and closes the distance between them, looming taller until he sidesteps and leans exaggeratedly against the railing in a mocking imitation of Noctis's own position. Noctis doesn't let it get to him. "Everyone knows why you're here, of course. Isn't it such a nice night?"

"…I suppose," Noctis says, off-balance. "What do you want?"

"Many, many things," Ardyn says, "but for tonight? Why, I was hoping I might steal you away."

He looks at Noctis, and Noctis looks back, trying to pick out his motives from his enigmatic half-smile. "What for?"

"I," Ardyn says, in a low, familiar tone like a secret shared, "find myself quite curious about you, Your Highness. Your entourage are occupied, are they not? Indulge me."

"Indulge your curiosity?" Noctis asks, warily. "You know, my friends aren't far." Ignis had been interested in exploring the restaurants; Prompto, the lesser-walked paths for interesting photos. Noctis thinks Gladio might still be at the bar. "If you're looking to - "

"I've had you in far worse positions than this, dear Prince." Ardyn shrugs, an expressive full-body gesture that spreads his arms wide. "Surely you have a fraction of time for one... inconsequential man."

"Inconsequential?" Noctis repeats, almost amused in his disbelief. But Ardyn isn't entirely wrong for all that he phrases it like a flirtation, an echo of the first time they met; Noctis remembers the man at the scene of the Titan when the ground was falling out from under their feet. For all that he's an Imperial, Ardyn seems to be more a help than a hindrance, and anything that might give them insight into his goals - well, Noctis knows, he's somewhat curious, too. "You know I wouldn't answer everything."

"I would hardly expect you to," Ardyn says, mouth quirked, expression unreadable. "Come, then. Have you eaten? I find myself in need of a companion for dinner."

"And if I have?" Noctis asks.

Ardyn straightens, taking a few steps toward the nearby gondola dock. "I assume you would not object to a steady source of drinks. On the Empire, of course - I've heard you don't quite have the gil to spare."

Noctis says, nettled, "Excuse me?"

"Oh," Ardyn says, sounding entirely insincere, "I apologise. I've merely heard the rumour bandied about - you're quite welcome to pay your share if you wish."

He's stopped, half-turned toward Noctis, eyebrows raised expectantly, and Noctis resists the urge to sigh as he pulls away from the railing, following Ardyn to the gondola waiting at the pier. "Well, if the Empire's providing," Noctis says, and Ardyn's mouth pulls into something that's almost a smile.

Noctis steps into the boat as Ardyn drops onto a seat, his relaxed, open posture a contradiction to the calculating look in his eyes. "I do hope you enjoy," Ardyn says, gesturing Noctis over to the space by his side, and Noctis slides into it with a confident assurance he doesn't quite feel. Their legs brush as the gondolier pulls away from the dock, and Noctis tries to ignore it as he looks out for a moment at the lights sparkling across the water, the rippling movement of the waves against wood.

It's nothing like riding the gondola with his friends, Prompto's easy jokes and Gladio's easier grin and Ignis's wry smile, but Ardyn isn't quite an enemy for all that he can't be an ally, and Noctis has had enough diplomacy shoved into his head that some of it has probably stuck. "Where are we headed?" he asks, but he thinks his effort at keeping his tone non-confrontational is lost on Ardyn, whose mouth twitches as though he can hear every thought in Noctis's head.

"Only the best," Ardyn says, "of course. It's not particularly far."

It might not be, but it feels it as they pull down another narrow canal, water black in the buildings' looming shadows. Ardyn's face is strange in the diffuse light, shadows falling in the sockets of his eyes, the hollows of his cheeks and throat, and before he can stop himself Noctis says, "What do you want from me?"

Ardyn tilts his head, eyes glittering, and Noctis wonders. "Can't I simply be curious?"

"About what?" Noctis presses.

"About you," Ardyn says without shame. "Crown Prince Noctis, the heir to Lucis's throne - forging the covenants of the astrals, I must assume, as the darkness grows ever deeper. It does seem... a familiar tale."

And put like that, Noctis knows it, for all that he wants the thought to stay buried at the back of his mind. "And that's why you're helping me?" Noctis asks dubiously, and Ardyn almost smiles.

"I can't simply be interested in seeing what you'll do? Because," he says, leaning forward until he's all Noctis can feel, the heat of his body and the absorbing darkness in his eyes, "believe me - I am."

Noctis's mouth is dry. He grasps for something to say. "I think we're here."

Ardyn thankfully pulls back as the gondola slows, the side of it pulling up against the low stairs to the ground as the gondolier ties it to the nearby post. But when he steps out first he holds his hand out to help Noctis up like a taunt, like a curiosity he knows Noctis will brush aside - and Noctis takes it.

"Thank you," Noctis says, just to be contrary, and even manages a smile as he drops Ardyn's hand and looks up at him on higher ground. "Are we going?"

"Yes," Ardyn says, but there's something a little surprised about his flourish as he steps aside to let Noctis pass. "Right this way, Noct."

The sudden, familiar nickname throws Noctis off-balance, though he tries to keep the grimace off his face. Ardyn slants him an amused glance as he leads them to the nearby restaurant, where the waitress's eyes slide right over Ardyn and widen when she sees Noctis. "A table for two," Ardyn says, "Under Izunia," and she quickly morphs back to a facade of polite professionalism as she leads them to a space.

Noctis thought the back of the restaurant would open onto a canal waterfront, perhaps, but he's unprepared for the vast stretch of sea and the island casting twinkling reflections in the distance. The table is small, private and isolated, and as Noctis takes his seat, he says, "For two?"

Ardyn heaves an overdramatic sigh. "I'm afraid I was cancelled on," he says, "though the consolation prize seems more than worth the price." His tone is flirtatious, but his gaze assessing; Noct leans back in his chair and tries not to feel too exposed.

"One of your Imperial cronies?" Noctis asks, and Ardyn chuckles, brief and amused.

"So to speak."

The sommelier fills their glasses with golden wine, and Noctis sees Ardyn's eyes on him when he takes a fortifying gulp. In the flickering candlelight there's something ageless about him, strange. "You said you were curious," Noctis says, "so. We should make a deal."

"Oh?" Ardyn swirls his glass, eyebrows quirked. "And with what terms?"

"A question for a question," Noctis says, "an answer for an answer." He wonders if he's been misreading him when Ardyn's expression falls blank for a brief moment, barely a blink before his insincere smile creeps back onto his face. "You - did want to ask me things, right?"

"Certainly," Ardyn says, "but isn't it simply making conversation? If, for example, I were to say dear Ravus was far too busy to join me tonight, looking after his poor, deteriorating sister - "

"He's with Luna?" Noctis blurts despite himself, and Ardyn glances at him thoughtfully, eyes half-lidded and dark.

"Your lovely fiancee, of course," he says. "I suppose your deal may well lead to the answers I seek. Very well, then - you wish to know about her, do you not? I presume your relationship is progressing well?"

He raises his eyebrows at Noctis and surprised, Noctis says, "I haven't seen her in years. We're... friends."

"She seems quite taken with you," Ardyn says. "Or perhaps its what binds you that draws you together. I haven't yet seen her, I'm afraid - Ravus has been prickly about it. The burden of the Oracle weighs heavily, as I'm sure you know."

Noctis swallows, looking away as their waiter brings out food; a plate of oysters, still in their rocky shells. Fiddling with a fork, Noctis drags his gaze away from the line of Ardyn's throat, the shadow of stubble along his jaw, and spears one, examining it in the candlelight. It tastes like the air in Altissia, the sea; water and salt and something indescribable like the way Ardyn watches him when he swallows it down and picks up his wineglass. He isn't hiding, not exactly, but he abruptly misses Prompto's easy banter, helping Ignis stir porridge over the stove.

"Of course," Ardyn says, as though he'd never stopped, "Lady Lunafreya's fate, as everyone's, is entirely left to you."

"Including yours?" Noctis says, irritated at the reminder, and Ardyn gives him a curious smile.

"Especially mine," he says. "Are you yet prepared, dear Noct?"

"You sound just like Gladio." Ardyn grimaces faintly, and Noctis's annoyance cools as he sighs. "I will be. But - shouldn't you be on the Empire's side?"

"I am," Ardyn says, "as most people, entirely selfish in my desires."

"And what are they?" Noctis asks, again. "You said you were curious about me." He'd thought - but —

Ardyn seems to pick up on the line of Noctis's thoughts, no doubt splashed across his face; his eyebrows rise and he drops his head, chuckling as Noctis tries to dampen the warmth flooding his face. "Well," Ardyn says, "I suppose you aren't entirely wrong. It would add an... interesting twist to this tale." He leans forward across the small table, and the space between them is suddenly far too small, Noctis increasingly aware of Ardyn's leg pressed against his own, his hand, palm up, between them. "And what do you want, dear Noct?"

"I want," Noctis says, "to know if you'll kill me in the morning."

"Never that," Ardyn says, but his smile is sharp, eyes dancing with amusement. "At least, not yet."

"Not yet," Noctis repeats, "as in..."

"If I wish you dead," Ardyn says, "I promise, you will be given ample forewarning."

That sounds less like a deal than a threat, but despite himself Noctis finds himself dropping his chin to study Ardyn through his eyelashes as he drops his hand to Ardyn's palm, fingers around Ardyn's wrist. The skin-to-skin contact feels like a spark, his nerves thrilling with anticipation. "I guess I can't ask for much more."

"Are you flirting with me?" Ardyn asks, sounding delighted, and Noctis exhales and pulls his hand away, deliberately dragging his fingertips along Ardyn's calloused palm.

"Maybe I thought I should take some initiative," he suggests, and Ardyn's smile widens. "I don't trust you. Do you think I should?"

"Oh," Ardyn says, his tone light, "and after all that I've done for you? Perhaps you shouldn't - but you did come here with me tonight."

"Yeah," Noctis says, "I guess I did." He doesn't know why he's drawn to the man and his secrets, his help always feeling like there's a catch on the way, but there's something compelling behind his flirtatious gestures and insincere smiles. They've spent two days on the road, three in Ardyn's Imperial ship, and he still has no idea what he wants.

Except for this: Noctis's gaze through his eyelashes, his freely-given touch. He's used to his name as currency, but not this, and not with someone who he's thought about at night, about peeling away the layers of him until Noctis can see his heart.

"Whatever would your dear friends say," Ardyn murmurs, and Noctis looks away.

Their plates are taken, replaced with something leafy and green Noctis doesn't bother touching. He cradles his glass of wine, watches Ardyn's deft fingers, the candle flickering in the night. "Why have you been helping us?" Noctis asks. "If you were just curious, you'd let us struggle, wouldn't you?"

"Some struggles," Ardyn says, "are more worthwhile than others. I'd hardly have the chance to see how you fare against the Hydraen if I hadn't earlier saved your life." 

"And what struggles are worthwhile?" Noctis says, but doesn't expect an answer. Ardyn smiles.

"Tell me about your friends."

"You've met them," Noctis says. "What else would you want to know?"

In the end, Ardyn asks easy questions and gives nothing to Noctis's in return, but perhaps it doesn't matter because Noctis finds himself relaxing in increments as their wine switches to red and plates come and go. Ardyn's almost familiar flirtation has taken on a curious, pointed edge, and as Noctis presses his calf to Ardyn's under their tiny table, savoring the last bite of a chocolate soufflé, he opens his eyes to find Ardyn watching him keenly, something thoughtful behind the heat in his gaze.

"What do you want?" Noctis asks, again, and Ardyn's mouth quirks into a smile.

"Many things," he says, "but one, I think, you know."

And he doesn't have assurances but that makes it thrilling, the way he's not quite sure if he'll end up with a knife to his throat. Maybe not today, maybe not tonight, but there's something vicious coiled behind Ardyn's friendly facade that Noctis wonders about, like a daemon waiting until nightfall to strike.

But nightfall is here, all but the brightest stars drowned out by the lingering light, and Ardyn seems perfectly willing to press his hand to Noctis's thigh in the gondola as Noctis raises his eyebrows, the warmth of the meal and the wine and the evening feeling like embers in his chest.

"Hey," Noctis says, "let's stop here."

The gondola pulls to the nearby stairs as Noctis rises to his feet, Ardyn's hand falling from his thigh. "Leaving already?" Ardyn says, but Noctis turns back when he's at the shore, a hand outstretched.

"Not unless you're scared of a little daemon-hunting," Noctis says, feeling oddly emboldened by his curious regard. "Well?"

"Patience," Ardyn says, light and chiding, but he does take Noctis's hand, allowing him to help him back to land. "And here I thought you'd prefer doing this with your own company."

"There were some posters by the restaurant," Noctis says, looking around to try and gather his bearings, "easy prey. Gladio gets annoyed when I drag him along for stuff I should be able to kill myself. I think it was this way."

Ardyn follows him through the winding streets. "I hope you don't expect me to be of any use in a battle, I'm afraid I've lost my touch."

"You use a bow, don't you?" Noctis says absently, peering down a dark alleyway and wondering if it just leads back to another canal. Ardyn's footsteps stutter, and Noctis looks back at him, Ardyn's eyes a gleam in the low light. "Your callouses..."

"Yes," Ardyn says, and steps to Noctis's side as if he hadn't stopped at all. "I find I rarely require it, so I've taken to leaving it behind. Do you actually know where you're going?"

"I," Noctis says, and frowns up at the low archway in front of them, then back at the narrow street. He thinks he's seen it before. "It should be close."

"There is a daemon here," Ardyn says, "and this isn't just an endeavour to find ourselves alone?"

The streets are near-silent. There's the sound of water, slow gentle waves against the wood of moored boats, the sound of conversation as though through a filter, distant and unclear, but all Noctis can hear is his heartbeat, his unsteady breathing as Ardyn deliberately takes a step forward, then another, crowding Noctis against a rough brick wall. The light from the street falls on his hair, burnished copper over the shadow of his face, and Noctis wets his lips and says, "Ardyn."

"You," Ardyn says, conversationally, as his fingers dig into Noctis's hip, startlingly warm through the thin fabric of his trousers, "have been taunting me all night. At least some of it quite purposeful."

"As if you haven't been enjoying it," Noctis says, but it comes out more uncertain than he'd like. Ardyn's expression is inscrutable, his pupils wide and dark, and Noctis tilts his head and pulls him into a kiss.

His mouth is on Ardyn's and then Ardyn is moving forward, pushing him back; Noctis's head hits stone but he can't think past the press of Ardyn's body against his, Ardyn's mouth hot and wet and demanding, his tongue sliding slick against Noctis's own. Ardyn tastes of chocolate and wine and Noctis feels heady with it, the way he kisses like he wants to devour, the hand tangled in his hair almost to the point of pain and when Ardyn pulls back Noctis reaches out, breathless and greedy for more.

Ardyn chuckles, low and intimate and familiar against Noctis's hair as Noctis tugs impatiently at his coat. "Dear Noct," he murmurs, "you are a lovely surprise," and Noctis makes an irritated sound in his throat.

"Like you haven't been pulling me into this since the start." When Ardyn's mouth quirks Noctis kisses him again, drags him closer and rocks his hips into the hot press of Ardyn's thigh between his legs. Noctis is already hard, nearly dizzy with it, Ardyn's bruising kisses leaving him aching and wanting; Noctis presses his mouth to Ardyn's jaw, looks up to his eyes, glittering with amusement, blue light cast across his face -

Noctis warps out and stumbles for a moment, light-headed and thrown, but the Armiger comes, sword materialising in his hand as he raises his arm for a swing. It draws the daemon's attention and its ire, magic gathering beneath the swirls of its robe and Noctis glances over at Ardyn, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed, looking curious but not at all afraid and hisses a curse through his teeth. The hunt said a lich, but this is green and white light gathering in a necromancer's sleeves and Noctis warps to strike it from behind and just manages a shield as the rush of a death spell passes him by.

It doesn't hit Ardyn, for all Noctis can tell, drawing on the Royal Arms to finish this quickly. In the open ruins it's not simple but at least straightforward, Prompto's gun and Ignis's support at his back with Gladio in the fray, but in Altissia it's a battle in narrow alleyways, tiny alcoves, people in the houses above. There's nowhere to warp to regain his bearings, nowhere to hide when he needs it fixated on him, and nowhere to run. Each strike with the heavy broadsword feels like it's taking something from him, his grip tightening as his strength falters, electricity splashing futile against his blade as he raises it again and again before the skeletons rise and it casts his death.

Green light floods his vision and Noctis stumbles, the world spinning around him and a fog over his mind, and he reaches for a warp but he can't seem to place anything, can't seem to do anything in time -

"Idiot," someone grumbles, and Noctis thinks, _Ardyn_. It is Ardyn, standing there in front of him, his face lost in the kaleidescope of Noctis's vision, warping and twisting and strange, and Noctis staggers to his feet, grasping for his sword in the mist of his mind. "Stop," Ardyn says, and Noctis can't think of anything, still looking for the daemon in the spiralling street - "Here."

It must be magic, Noctis thinks, because his legs give out from under him and the fog on his mind falls deep and all he can think, before the world fades to darkness, is that - the daemon had stopped, too.

 

He comes to to Ardyn's voice, an irritated, "It didn't hit you that hard, for gods' sake," and opens his eyes in time to catch Ardyn's wrist as it pulls away from his shoulder. "So the sleeping prince awakes."

"Weren't you," Noctis says, his head still feeling like he's just fought a malboro. "What happened?"

"We're in the Leville," Ardyn says, "after you were knocked blissfully unconscious. Thankfully, the Imperial Army came to our rescue before we could become daemon fodder."

"I," Noctis says, and gives Ardyn a narrow look as he pulls himself up. "And my clothes?"

Ardyn tilts his head, and Noctis follows his gesture to see them neatly folded on a chair. "Kept between us, of course," he says, "I wanted to enjoy the view. Perhaps next time we meet I'll take what I'm owed."

"You could take it now," Noctis says. His voice comes out softer than he means it to, the firtation all-but-gone, and he pulls on Ardyn's wrist to hide the way his instincts are shouting at him not to. "You did get us a room."

Ardyn studies him for a long moment and exhales, shaking his head as he joins Noctis on the bed. "Dear Noct," he says, "you're dead on your feet."

"I was confused, not dying," Noctis says, and tugs him down for a kiss. His heart is pounding, his nerves aflame with adrenaline and something not quite fear and Noctis finds himself arching up into Ardyn's clever hands, his gloriously hot mouth as he sucks a careful bruise under Noctis's jaw. "Fuck - "

Ardyn's still dressed, the asshole, and for lack of skin Noctis twists his fingers in his hair, the color of blood in the golden light. "Patience, patience," Ardyn murmurs, pressing kisses down Noctis's collarbone, his mouth hot and glistening wet, his eyes gleaming. "Say it."

Noctis sees him, those sharp eyes in a ruined face, but when he blinks the mirage is gone. Not yet, Ardyn had said, and Noctis wonders when it'll turn, but it's not today. "Please," Noctis says, and his voice cracks, the ache of his arousal and the thrum of his blood in his ears nearly too much to bear. "Please, Ardyn, please - "

Ardyn curls his fingers around Noctis's cock and pulls, watching Noctis's every whimper and gasp. Noctis can't even manage to care as he rocks into it, the friction a blissful frisson along his nerves, and tugs at Ardyn's hair until he kisses him again, the wet heat of his mouth a delight. Ardyn twists his wrist and squeezes his fingers and steals the breath from Noctis's mouth when he comes, nips at Noctis's mouth and pulls back while Noctis is trying to think again.

"C'mere," Noctis says drowsily, pulling at Ardyn's mussed hair, "I want to," and when Ardyn rolls his eyes Noctis kisses him again, sloppy and unintentionally sweet. He rolls them over, intending - something, but the rise of exhaustion is hitting him like a behemoth, and Noctis mumbles, "Just... not yet."

He's half-drifting on the edge of a nightmare when Ardyn shifts in the bed. Noctis keeps his breathing steady in the heavy cadence of sleep, one familiar from the times Ignis or Gladio would poke their heads in on him, trying to get him to wake; Ardyn's fingertips brush his hair, featherlight, and Noctis wonders if he's even fooled. But then Ardyn murmurs, "Betrayal is such sweet sorrow," and Noctis's fingers tingle with the Armiger and - 

His leg catches Ardyn's and Noctis rolls as Ardyn falls to the bed with a thump. He hasn't quite surprised him, Noctis thinks, perched over Ardyn with a dagger to his throat; Ardyn's eyes had only briefly widened and he's now starting to smile, despite the fact that Noctis could kill him as easy as breathing - perhaps because he can tell Noctis doesn't really want to. "What are you planning?" Noctis bites out. "Betrayal - if you want me to hate you, there are far easier ways to do it."

"Are there, though?" Ardyn murmurs, and its as if he doesn't even notice the sharp steel cutting into his skin, leaving a faint red line, but Noctis's hand doesn't waver. "Noct, if you don't mind me saying - you do have a very soft heart."

"Soft," Noctis says, leaning his weight further on Ardyn's shoulders, though he's made no move to escape, "but not _stupid_."

Abruptly, Ardyn starts to laugh, a low, heartfelt chuckle that presses his throat into Noctis's dagger so far it draws blood; Noctis pulls it away just enough that Ardyn doesn't slit his own throat in the making. "I don't understand you at all," Noctis says, blankly. "You want me to be the King, yet you work for the Empire, you want to betray me yet you save my life - "

"It isn't," Ardyn says, laughter fading, "a tale for this time, I think. Would you kill me here, dear Noct? I hardly think I've antagonised you enough to deserve it."

"If you want a fight," Noct says, frustrated, "I'll fight you. If you want hate - I'll hate you, you're irritating enough - "

"I'm hurt," Ardyn says, sounding thoroughly not. "Haven't I done quite enough to prove my utmost sincerity - "

Noctis shuts him up with his mouth on his, harsh and insistent and demanding; Ardyn's lips part under his own and he kisses back like it's a joke. "Shut up," Noctis says, "if you can't say anything that isn't some lie - "

"Only prevarication, my dear," Ardyn says, and he's smiling again, even as Noctis makes an irritated noise and presses him back further, his hands on Ardyn's shoulders as he releases his grip on the Armiger and the dagger disappears into light. "I hope you realise you're hardly threatening without a weapon at hand - "

"Like I need a gods-damned weapon," Noctis grumbles, even more annoyed at Ardyn's many, many layers of clothing, the rough fabric of his pants scratching his thighs as his nails scrape uselessly against leather. "What are you doing? What on Eos do you _want_?"

"What I want," Ardyn murmurs, and Noctis's reflexes are fast enough that when Ardyn hooks a leg around his and flips them his dagger is back in his hand, still trailing blue as he brandishes it at Ardyn's throat. "My," Ardyn says, "so feisty," but his eyes are unfathomable and dark, and when Noctis says impatiently, "What?" his mouth quirks and he gently pushes Noctis's arm back down and away.

Ardyn says, "Dear Noct," and leans down to kiss him again, bruisingly hard, his teeth against Noctis's lips and his fingers digging into the marks on Noctis's hips, bright red against his pale skin. He presses blunt teeth into Noctis's jaw and tuts when Noctis grabs for his shirt to pull him back, desperate for more; he draws his weight forward until Noctis is nearly smothered by it, his arms pinned to the mattress as Ardyn leans forward to murmur in his ear. "My revenge won't be stayed by one Lucian, no matter how lovely he may be."

"Revenge," Noctis repeats, and Ardyn hides a smile in Noctis's throat as he reaches down between them, his hand curling around Noctis's cock. Noctis's breath rushes out of him and he shoves at Ardyn's waistline, looking to touch skin again as the fire-hot pull of Ardyn's hand is too much, not enough - "Come on," Noctis says, "don't just - "

Ardyn chuckles, low and pleased, and pulls away. Noctis is too achingly hard to be embarrassed by the noise he makes when he goes, but he stays on the bed and watches Ardyn's careful removal of his coat like a tease. Noctis wraps a hand around his cock, starting a steady rhythm as he tries to think of something other than Ardyn's impossibly slow derobing but then Ardyn's - there, as if he slipped under Noctis's notice, fingers wrapped around Noctis's wrist hard enough to hurt.

"Oh," Ardyn says, "are you that impatient? Of course, if you'd rather - "

"Don't you dare."

Noctis pulls at Ardyn's waistcoat, thinks briefly about slicing the fabric open but is thoroughly distracted by Ardyn's mouth on his, Ardyn's oiled fingers pressing inside him. "Be good," Ardyn says, amusement leaking through his voice, and Noctis grits his teeth and bites at his mouth, not quite hard enough to draw blood.

"If you're going to do it," Noctis says, "do it already," and Ardyn, finally, does.

He's still wearing his gods-damned pants, Noctis thinks viciously, as his fingers scrabble for purchase until he manages to slide them under the edge of Ardyn's tucked-in shirt; Ardyn sets a tortuously slow pace that isn't near enough and Noctis pulls at him, fingernails scraping skin as his hips rise, aching, needing more. "So terribly rude," Ardyn says, "you'd think someone might have taught you some manners."

"Too old to keep up?" Noctis taunts, and Ardyn's raised eyebrows say he's hardly phased. "Fine - please."

"Please what?" Ardyn says, and he's so unruffled Noctis wants to pull him apart.

"Please," Noctis says, "take what you _want_ already," and bats his eyelashes in a mockery of a flirt. "Whyever you want me - the Crown Prince, the future King - "

"Noctis Lucius Caelum," Ardyn says, eyes dark, and there's something terrible, terrifying about him in a moment that's gone when Noctis blinks. Adrenaline thrums through him, his heart beating in his ears, and he's not sure if it's the mirage or Ardyn's bruising grip on his hips, the way he starts fucking into Noctis like he wants him to fall apart -

Noctis rocks into it, his nerves spiking at every thrust, his arousal a cresting crescendo he doesn't want to stop. He comes with Ardyn's hand around his cock and his breath stuck in his throat, a rush of sparking sensation that shifts into more when Ardyn doesn't even pause, his pace still furious as Noctis shivers and clenches and his nerves feel aflame. His cock twitches though it's spent and everything turns into pinpoint focus, Ardyn's cock stretching him wide and every twinge of his nerves, every shudder of pleasure starting to border on pain.

"Please," Noctis manages, and when Ardyn comes its almost a relief to the way Noctis's fingernails have scraped thorugh skin, the way every movement as Ardyn pulls away twinges with a deep, steady ache. Noctis feels almost empty, wet and half-satisfied and tired, and as Ardyn fixes his clothing and picks up his coat Noctis says, "What, not even a thank you?"

"Oh," Ardyn says, sounding amused, "that wasn't a repayment for your life?"

"I was saving yours at the time," Noctis says, "but... maybe for the room." He stretches out on the mattress, his muscles protesting, and sits up on the bed. "Your revenge," Noctis says, after a moment. "Is there anything I can do?"

Ardyn's mouth quirks into something that isn't quite a smile. "Yes," he says. "But don't worry; you'll know what to do when the time comes."

"Not yet," Noctis says, testing, and Ardyn watches him, eyes half-lidded as Noctis rises and pads barefoot across the carpet to his side. He leans up and kisses him, slow and thoughtful, and when he pulls back Ardyn raises his eyebrows and turns on his heel, heading to the door.

"No," Ardyn says, his hand on the doorknob, looking back at Noctis over his shoulder. "Not yet today."


End file.
